Fly Tying with UV: An Effective Drake soft hackle

Part 3: Big bugs gone soft

NOTE: This is the 3rd part of our "Fly Tying with UV" series. If you haven't read the introduction behind this series, you can see it here. It's recommended you read that so you can understand the method behind the madness...

From time to time, I get the itch to tie up soft hackles. There's something about these classic style flies that are fun to tie yet have some sort of simplicity to them.

With that in mind and wanting to focus on another UVR signature pattern, I looked to throw something together for a Green Drake hatch that I'd been fishing. The UVR comes into play with the highly UV Reflective Pearl Mylar and the not-so-UV-reflective pheasant tail for ribbing (for good contrast). I also throw in some Spirit River UV2 Seal-X dubbing on the thorax and the Spirit River UV2 Mallard for the tail. Again, if you read Mr. Curry's book you'll see it's not all about flash and UVF or all UVR. It's likely a good mix or balance that can best imitate the naturals' UV signatures.

Suffice it to say, the pattern did some work. I dubbed this one the "Mailman" (long story on the name) and it delivers. From what I could tell, the fish definitely keyed in on the pattern and would move out of their feeding lanes to nail it. Whether or not the UVR aspect made a difference, it's hard to say, but it's a great pattern to have in the box.